Log # 22: The middle of the hornet nest, post thargoid stress disorder
26 Jan 2018(Wettoast) Wanda Fersegi
Colonia : January 21 3304 
Well....I landed in Colonia without any further complication. Still can't believe how much I was pushing my luck flying with a heat damaged frame shift drive. I am never ever using the cone boosting technique again......The anaconda's drive is now in in the hands of someone who can properly look at it, while here pulling the diamondback out of storage once more. I'm probably going to find myself coming across more than a few off stares, considering how amateur my way of cataloging which parts and wiring correspond to where . Anyway, I've finally filled myself in on information on the second distant worlds trip. Too bad the expedition is still a while off, leaving in the month of October 3304. Quite a bit to wait, but at least going mad with other explorers is better than going mad alone.
Screens in Colonia's public areas were covered with news that more stations and bases within the Pleiades had come under attack, but it was accompanied by some good news about the repair of others . Repairing those starports feels like an invitation for the thargoids to destroy them again, maybe Aegis are just suckers for punishment. The thargoids have shown what they can do, it's better we back off. This may be the "new frontier" of human civilization, but everyone is attached to what's happening back there near Sol.
But before heading back home, I should stop and drop in on a few familiar faces before trucking it back 22k. I've spent plenty of time here making friends shipping biowaste left and right, those people won't be of much use if I never see them. God knows I need to see someone I can trust before venturing near the destroyed Pleiades again.
As soon as the conda is ready to fly, I'll be out of here. Back towards the thargoids...
22kly of thought
Coming to one waypoint from my last Colonia trip, I set down and began to familiarize myself with the most recent developments on hostile activity by the thargoids. By what I skimmed over so far, new waves of attacks have left a significantly higher number of stations either on fire or in a state of disrepair . The number of systems affected seems to have shot up exponentially, along with the panic stricken, the floating around in escape pods, the missing, and the body count. I'm worried that the amount of systems attacked will become so great, rescue efforts will simply be overwhelmed.
I've finally gotten over the shock of seeing events the Pleiades from around a month ago, I should be ready to jump right back into the fray with a wing of fellow rescuers. However there is once incident still dogging me. Debris had obstructed an exit to a station interior, at the time I believed that my only option was to ram my way out or eventually cook with the station.I had 50 plus survivors on board, some of them were injured by the jolt, and I believe the ship smashed into escape pods floating around inside the station's interior. The argument with one of the refugees was the final straw for me and I decided to jet. I made a mistake by letting this one incident drive me away, It shouldn't have happened.
Only a few more stops until Sol-side. I should sleep on this before going bonkers.
Pleiades sector : Maia nebula
Back in the pilot's seat after a few days at my parents' place.They were crossed with me for the most part for telling a fib before leaving, but overall forgiving. What matters is that I made peace with them and I did. Shortly I will be arriving near the Maia nebula and right back in the center of the goddamned hornet's nest.
If the trend increasing thargoid attacks keeps up, then us rescuers can expect weeks or months of this nightmare. Thankfully, urgency has died down quite a little in the case of the repairing stations. But a quick piece of my mind to all those staying near the Maia nebula: You were lucky to escape with your life when those things came knocking your starport with thousands on board to bits, how can you be so f****** stupid to stay here?!? Research purposes or not, setting up shop or home in in the Maia nebula or Pleiades is suicidal.
The thargoids came, killed, spaced, injured, thousands of people in a shockingly short period of time . What's there to stop them from coming back and doing it again ?
The Oracle : PLEIADES SECTOR IR-W D1-55 Jan 23 3304
This place is much less of a s***show then last time but, just as dreary. Sirens aren't blaring and no one is screaming to get up the passenger stairs while knocking others over . The docking bay still has a smoky haze above pad level, I hope it isn't worse once reaching the walkway and tram. Given if there even is a tram... I'll make a few stops, including the passenger lobby, and see if there is anyone who wants to arrange a flight towards the bubble.
As expected the lobby was filled with a mixture of civilians, aid workers, repair workers, and pilots. It wasn't as hazy and smoky as the docking bay, but the ceiling lights still made the haze visible down here. Many seemed to be expecting another thargoid attack and were desperate to get out. Those piloting capable craft were working with a rather rough organization of officials, corralling passengers towards pilots after raising their hand and saying a number such as "20" or "100". I decided I would do the same, and 30 individuals now have a place reserved aboard for my flight home. Once finished dealing with evacuations from burning starports, I will take as many looking to evacuate the Pleiades as I can back to the bubble. I had the opportunity to remove more hull reinforcements for passenger cabins, but I could not exchange defense for capacity in good conscience. If you absolutely have to come on board the bridge still has room. Not going to be caught without decent armor in any scenario.
The comms lit up with urgent messages to provide rescue to Malthus terminal. Rescue vessels were beginning to become bogged down with evacuees, and they need additional pilots. I shot back on the comms, replying that I was one jump away and had a passenger ready ship. The only experiences of bats*** insanity I can think of equating flying through a burning station in order to save refugees, is fighting the thargoids themselves, and grabbing escape pods from them before they are taken.
Distress beacon : Sanchez class science vessel
On the way over to Malthus terminal, my nav panel lit up with another distress call. Thinking it was another thargoid aftermath, I dropped into the source believing that the carnage was over and I could retrieve whoever was left in peace. Again the curdling metallic screech was my cue to freeze up and stare straight ahead with blurred vision. The thargoid fronted my craft, scanned me for anything it wanted, and continued on its way. This may not be the thargoid that tore apart this mega ship, but by keeping my distance I was able to see it scavenging the hull and debris that floated around it. This thargoid seemed more of an opportunist.
I checked the contacts panel for any survivors in escape pods, but just as I had spotted one the thargoid was moving towards it. I sent out a collector limpet to grab the pod, but the green tendrils of light characterizing the thargoid's grip had already met the pod. The limpet attached and a brief struggle ensued before the pod was thrust into the python's cargo hold. After receiving the notification that the cargo was secure, the thargoid turned red, looking very displeased with what I had just done. Its swarmlets had deployed and it was moving closer to me, seemingly demanding that I give back what I had stolen from him/her, whatever they may be. It moved within 500 meters of my ship and sat there floating, waiting for me to move. I switched flight assist of and allowed the ship to drift to the left of the thargoid, and pressed the boost key into the throttle almost breaking it. Now it was really pissed off ! My shields were holding but even dirty drive tuned thrusters were having trouble getting out of mass lock range. What felt like forever was finally over as the computer announced enty to supercruise, 1 and a half rings of shield power missing, and some damage to the hull from the thargoid's attack breaching the shield. I set down at the rescue megaship orbiting Malthus terminal, and couldn't breathe or swallow for the next hour.
Malthus Terminal
Tailing the wake of other rescue vessels, I dropped in on what remained of Malthus terminal. The comms were flooded with desperate cries for help and authoritative sounding voices directing traffic flow, but still shaken by what they had just been through. During contact with a flight controller, their channel was briefly cut off from an explosion. For a brief few moments I thought I had just heard someone perish, before they reconnected the channel and assigned a pad number and prodding me to " hurry the hell up." Here we go again..... The assigned pad is at the far end of the station so no shooting through the slot. Might smash into a piece of debris, that will end my trip quickly. After weaving around broken structure the ship found the pad, but the pad gave and was on a slant. I lowered the ship's stairs, and hurried down the the docking bay entrance to rush by a crowd of people heading for the passenger cabins. I grabbed the arm of a man in a Hutton Orbital flight jacket and yelled "Take the co-pilot seat, I'm going to squeeze a few more onto the bridge. Go! Oh, and if you try and take off without me I'll f****** know it ! " They complied and I bolted across the slanted pad towards the hangar bay entrance to find 30 more hunkered down waiting for the next ship. The cabins were already at capacity, but I dreaded the prospect of leaving anyone behind. 30 or so sweaty, crying and smelling of smoke entered the bridge , I took the pilot's chair and ordered my new found co-pilot to make preparations for take off, and to get ready to fire off every heat sink the launcher had left. I could hear those sitting on the bridge suffer a jolt when the python detached from the pad, I could also feel them focusing out the canopy on every piece of debris floating around in the station as I was. When the way was clear, all power was diverted to the engines and all 70 or so of us shot out of the hangar bay and into the silence of space. Once landed at the rescue megaship, I followed the crowd of those refugees just on board my ship to a cafeteria hall of sorts. I shut down completely and slept under a cafeteria table with a jacket covering me .
When the time came to head back to Sol, I made one more stop at the oracle and made the pickup of 30 refugees that I had promised earlier. Along with those folks, I'm glad to be out of here.
Abraham Lincoln, earth : Sol
A few days of rushing through burning debris and I'm absolutely spent. I'll probably never see the faces of those I plucked from that station again, but in this case the act seems like the thank you . A self imposed grounding will start now, partly due to stress but also not having been under a natural atmosphere for a long while now. My uncle offered to put up with me for a while in old Montreal down on earth, I decided to jump on this as I have only been groundside on the earth once before.
Wanda N. Fersegi, out.